Carleton students use numerical information across all types of writing, from a brief figure framing an essay to a data driven comps project. Our subject librarians help students become informed and responsible users of published data in several ways. The Gould Library provides access to diverse sources of data, research guides that highlight data collections, and knowledgeable librarians who help students find and evaluate the data they need for their work.

Data-related Reference and Instruction

Librarians are ready to help students and faculty discover, access, and evaluate data and statistical sources for their work. You can drop by the Research/IT Desk and speak to any librarian to get started. Or, considering scheduling a meeting with one of our data-focused subject librarians for more in-depth help:

Gould Library also works with faculty to deliver data-related library instruction sessions. As students learn to find and access statistics and data, they gain exposure to the ways evidence is produced and used socially, politically, and economically. They become more informed readers and more thoughtful in their own use of numbers.

Gould Library has a rich collection of Data-related Research Guides. Access librarian-curated guides to help find and understand data sources on a topic or relevant to a course. 

Contact your liaison to learn about possibilities for classroom visits, group and individual appointments, and course research guides.

Other Data Services on Campus

  • The Quantitative Resource Center can help you with math, statistics, and data in any class or research project. They offer one-on-one tutoring to help you apply math and stats, communicate quantitatively, and work with data and software.
  • The GIS Lab helps faculty and students using geospatial data, geospatial analysis, maps and geospatial technology in their teaching, learning and research.
  • The Data Squad can grapple with simple to thorny data tasks and problems on your behalf. Contact them for data wrangling and sculpting, database design and development, reproducibility testing and data visualization.